Space Engineers 2 early access review: a solid and solitary box of building blocks - yet not much else

Sturdy foundations

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Keen Software House

• Developer: Keen Software House
• Publisher: Keen Software House
• Release: Jan 27th, 2025
• On: Windows
• From: Steam
• Price: £25/$30/€29
• Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7-11700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, Windows 10

It’s easy to feel pride when you’re flying through space at 1000 metres per second. “Look at my spaceship go,” you say to yourself, “look how fast it crashes into that other, smaller ship.” Building your own galactic snowpiercer from scratch in Space Engineers 2 will bring a smile to anyone who once revelled in clicking together Lego podracers and bashing them into one another on the living room carpet with a violence eight-year-olds should not yet have mental access to. That said, this is the precise extent of the things you can do in the game so far. Build ’n’ crash. Every feature fits in this opening paragraph. There’s good reason to trust the developers’ ability to deliver the rest of this crafting and survival game. But right now, it’s all core, no loop.

It’s a very sturdy core, I should say. You are let loose in an asteroid-littered realm of space, where a neat selection of example ships are docked around space stations or floating freely between the big floating rock worlds. You’ll jetpack around, explore the stations, and probably very quickly clamber through the corridors of the bigger vessels to find the cockpit. Once behind the joystick of a big cruiser, it’s hard to resist the trademark act of the game’s marketing - driving extremely fast into another ship and watching the metal crumple like an empty can of Fanta under a fat donkey’s hoof.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Keen Software House

Of course, destroying someone else’s sandcastle is never really as much fun as bulldozing your own. Creating ships is a matter of flipping through the toolbar and plopping blocks of light or heavy armour into existence to create a frame. Then adding the necessary thrusters, cockpit, and gyroscope to make the ship functional. All of these items are sitting in your spacesuit’s magic hands, an infinite supply of aluminium rectangles and jagged triangular edges. The game is exclusively in “creative mode” for now, so there’s no ore mining or material refining to be done. Just building.

There’s also no tutorial for how to go about that. You’ll have to regularly dip in and out of the help menus to figure out the many keyboard shortcuts that’ll let you build with any sense of competence. It’s a bit overwhelming at first. Especially if, like me, you’re coming to this with no experience of Space Engineers . But it eventually clicks (literally) once you cycle through the library of pieces with the hungry concentration of a chimp looking for termites in his buddy’s hair.

Soon, you understand the importance of holding Ctrl to precisely align blocks along a handy grid. You discover the helpful “symmetry” plane that cuts your work in half. And being able to create pre-fabs is a straightforward (if sometimes fiddly) process of dragging boxes around anything you want to copy, then pasting it somewhere and saving it as a “blueprint”. Within an hour or two, the building process itself felt surprisingly intuitive and snappy.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Keen Software House

There is some friction. The “undo” and “redo” function that the developers cite as a revolutionary new feature has its limits, for example - you’ll sometimes delete a block accidentally and try to undo it only to see an error message saying this time it’s impossible, without really explaining why. Undoing errant paint gun sprays is also a no-go (although the devs say they already have this working internally, so it should be implemented soon). And it’s hard to see how some pieces are meant to fit together. The window pane pieces, for example, don’t allow as much modular freedom as I’d hoped.

In short, it’s a bare bones creative sandbox, but the bones are strong and healthy. It is equally a place of directionless wandering and playful experimentation. You have meters for health, power, oxygen, and fuel - but no need to keep them in check yet. You can build cool-looking refineries, med bays, and cargo containers - but there is no way to meaningfully use any of them. You can crash the ship and rush dramatically to shut down the reactor! But actually, it makes no difference. Ships don’t need a power source yet.

That makes this currently feel like a £25 building block toy, rather than a goal-oriented game. It’s a very cool toy, admittedly. I made two ships. The first was a mean-looking drag racer, with waspy colours and spikey fins (the unconscious influence of a childhood playing Wipeout). The second ship was more nautical - an interstellar catamaran complete with solar sail. The giant freighter-class thruster that I ill-advisedly strapped to the arse means this machine gets to 1000m/s in a fearfully short burst. I even added a little crow’s nest up the mast, but installed the seat at a jaunty angle. This being space, there’s no problem with the crew mate up there being sideways.

Except you won’t have a crew mate for a while. Multiplayer hasn’t been added yet, and won’t come along until after a sizeable number of updates, including the addition of planets, volumetric water, modding tools, and Steam workshop support. Judging by the developer’s reliable history of updates and DLC for the first Space Engineers (a game RPS liked enough to play co-operatively for many months ), there’s good reason to look forward to all of that.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Keen Software House

But it’s not here yet, that’s all. For those craving the direction and impetus of survival meter bars, the inspiration of co-op craftinating, or the sweet crunch of constructing factories of ever-more-efficient automation - this minimal alpha won’t give you an ounce of what you’re after. But if approached as if the only adult in the house has upturned a box of colourful bricks onto the floor and gone out to the pub for an hour, you can spend that time quite happily coming up with your own building projects. Design a torus-shaped holiday resort above the asteroid on the end of a big needle. Cobble together a spacefighter that looks like an annoyed squid. Paint absolutely everything an aggressive Martian red.

As a newcomer to the series, it’s hard to know if someone craving more Space Engineers will be excited by the birth of a new but familiar playground, or if they’ll be disappointed by the relative lack of things to do. Keen Software House have a ton of catching up to do before the sequel can rival its own predecessor in sheer variety. This is a common problem for creative games with long lifespans (it took a while for Crusader Kings 3 to properly appeal to me, just because it seemed like CK 2 already did everything I wanted).

Sequels that arrive fully formed don’t have this problem. But this isn’t that. Early access makes blank spaces obvious to long-serving fans, who will rightly look back at the first Space Engineers and observe that it still does ten times as much for roughly half the price. There’s good reason to be hopeful that this sequel will become the definitive way to weld together planet-hopping death traps for your pals. But I wouldn’t blame any astronauts out there for staying planetside until there’s a little more to see.

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Space Engineers 2

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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